To feel alive
by Katharen Silver
Summary: This a completely fluffy one-shot, added to the ending to "Code Red", because it seems that there is just so much potential to work with for this episode and I couldn't resist.


A/N: This a completely fluffy one-shot, added to the ending to _Code Red_, because it seems that there is just so much potential to work with for this episode and I couldn't resist. Enjoy.

It was hours later, hours after all the paper work was done, and the shock had started wearing off, that she realized what he had said. Her hand was sore from hitting Jane in the face, and in the shadows of her apartment Teresa felt a stab of guilt. Despite everything that he put her through it wasn't in her nature to hurt people, she looked after them, sometimes to her peril, but Jane had finally pushed the wrong button, but even the lie there was a piece of truth.

He said that he would call her.

Teresa stared at half drunk glass of wine on her table as if it had the answer to the question she wasn't sure she was ready to ask.

He said that he would call her, that she was the one person he would want to talk to when he knew he had no time left.

Standing she grabbed her keys and coat she hurried out of her apartment; the bastard had done it again and this time she wasn't going to just let it go, this time she would find out the truth, no matter what it cost either of them.

Jane lay on his couch in CBI staring up at the ceiling. The aching in his chest was something he was more than accustom to, but for once he didn't try to drive it out with senseless indulgences.

He wasn't really surprised that Teresa had hit him, after everything he put her through he deserved much worse. Yet in the shadows of his safe haven he could admit that it wasn't the punch that was haunting him, it wasn't even her anger, which he admitted was completely founded, it was look she had on her face. It was the almost feral pain and shame that had over come her features when she realized what he had done, it was that look in her eyes that was haunting him now, hours later.

She had called him a bastard, and she was right, but he couldn't stand her sadness. He couldn't stand the pain haunting her beautiful green eyes anymore. If giving her back the light in her eyes meant that she was angry with him again, it was worth it.

He just hoped that she wouldn't be angry with him for long he had really missed her smile.

It was dark in the CBI but that didn't mean anything.

Teresa knew that Jane often sat in the dark room after hours. She hesitated in the hall way, anger and surprise had driven her to this point, but suddenly she was faced with what was about to happen. There was no way for her to confront him, there never was. With a sinking heart Teresa turned on her heel intending to retreat back to the safety of her apartment when she heard his soft voice.

"I'm sorry it hurt you Teresa."

Teresa froze, and her heart jumped to her throat afraid that he had seen her, but he continued on slowly, and she slowly realized he was talking to the darkness.

"If it means you smile again then it was worth it."

Slowly Teresa moved in the shadows closer to the sound of his voice.

Jane was leaning against her office door his head pressed against the glass.

"What would you say?" She asked softly.

The sound of her voice startled him and he turned to face her.

Teresa was wearing jeans and a dark shirt, and in the shadows of the CBI her green eyes seemed to sparkle. Her eyes watched him move away from her office and toward her slowly.

"I tend to say a lot of things," Jane continued giving her one of his most charming smiles.

Teresa ignored his smile and shook her head. "You said you would call me, me out of everyone but you never told me what you would say. What would it be Jane?"

Jane fell silent as his mind raced with answers, truth and lies. He had told her at the plant that if he was going to die he would call her, but he hadn't realized she had caught it. At the time she had been too angry with him to notice anything else.

Teresa closed the space between them, her eyes trained on his. She was close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off her warming him. He hadn't realized how cold it was until that moment.

"What would you say Patrick?" Her voice was quiet and breathless as she demanded an answer.

"Lisbon," Jane said shrugging his shoulders and smiling, but Teresa simply shook her head again.

"Patrick … Why would you call me? What would you say?"

Her glittering emerald eyes held his, and he couldn't think of the dozen lies that might get him out of this. He couldn't focus on anything other than the light in her eyes and the small smile tugging at her deep lush lips.

"I'd say I was sorry …"

"For what?"

Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice was demanding its own answers. _When had they started whispering? When had their hearts started racing, and the small space between them shrink even smaller._ Yet when he spoke again it silence the voice and her irritation came back full force. She would get a straight answer on this, this of all things.

"Everything," he told her.

"That's not good enough," she growled softly, her warm breath tickling his skin.

"Then what is?"

Teresa hesitated; if she was wrong then she would never be able to stand in the same room as him again, without her face lighting up like fire. Yet his eyes were still trained on hers, and she recognized the lingering desire in them that he was trying to hide.

"You said you wanted me to feel alive, what about you? Do you feel alive Patrick?"

"I don't know what you expect me to say Teresa."

"The truth Patrick, for once I want the truth."

"The truth…" he murmured brushing her hair out of her face with a careful hand. "The truth is I wouldn't know what to say, I'd just want to hear your voice."

"Why?" she whispered.

"I think you know why…"

"Why?" She repeated.

His lips ghosted hers leaving a soft tingling sensation that quickly spread through the rest of her body.

"Because," he whispered softly against her lips, before pressing his lips against hers for a chaste kiss. "Because I love you."

Teresa let a small smile appear as she traced his lips with one finger.

"I love you too."


End file.
